Friday, October 28, 2011

Out With the Old ...

Two weeks ago, on a Friday afternoon my washing machine stopped spinning. In fact, it was completely seized. Try as I might to coax another cycle, it wasn't going to budge. Six weeks ago the same thing happened, so Tom and Peter hauled it out to the garage to check it out. Everything is sealed up, so replacing a part wasn't an option. So they hauled it back in, and it started to work again.

Every now and then the spin cycle didn't spin, but I could try again, and it would. Except, not the last day.

I looked at the cost of new machines, and went "eek!" We are trying to keep two households running, and money isn't exactly growing on trees right now. So when Tom returned from his business trip I had to let him know the bad news.

Well, fortunately for us, Tom is always scheming. I don't know how his mind works, exactly, but I'm sure glad it works differently than mine. When we first moved to Canada getting a credit card proved to be frustrating, even though our US credit ratings were about as high as they can be. No good here. One trip to Sears to purchase some necessity, a nice clerk asked us if we wanted to apply for a Sears card and get 10% off. For some reason Tom said no, but then said, what the heck. So he filled out the application, and it was approved.

Since then it has become my card for household items. And along with that card came Sears points. That was Tom's scheme.

We found out that Sears does not stock appliances in London. They have to be ordered, with about a 10 day delivery. Visions of laundromats flitted in and out of my mind. Too many years of having to do that made it not an attractive alternative. But the salesman did say that we might want to check out the Sears Outlet store. After verifying that we could still use our points, we drove there. Found a scratch and dent, and after only having to shell out $150 of our own money, had a new washer.

So home we went, and ... it wasn't so simple. Here are some pictures of how this all ended up costing Tom the entire weekend, plus two more nights of repairs. The hot water faucet was corroded, and not coming off!

Three trips between Lowes and Home Depot for various parts, and I was finally good to go by Sunday evening. Monday and Tuesday, Tom pulled the machine out to do a bit more finishing on the wall. Paint is needed, but you can see the wallpaper in the laundry room. That will be coming off .. so for now, I can live with the patch.

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Livin' the High LIfe!

New transitions .. learning to live apart from my dear husband .. then learning to live with him when he is home on leave .. plenty of time for the house .. teaching math in college .. falling more in love with God .. discerning the "next step"